Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (October 31, 2024)

With reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending October 27, 2024.

Keep the Halloween spirit alive with these bestselling titles. Start with The Vegetarian, by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith), the haunting story of Yeong-hye, a young Korean woman whose disturbing nightmares cause her to give up meat, a choice that provokes unsettling reactions from her husband, sister, and brother-in-law. Their attempts to control her send her down a path of estrangement from both her family and herself. Next, true-crime fans will love The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel. This psychological thriller follows art thief Stéphane Breitwieser and his partner, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, as they sweep across Europe stealing masterpieces.

For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Intermezzo, Sally Rooney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29
2. The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $30. Read Alta’s coverage of Connelly’s work here.
3. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
4. Playground, Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Company, $29.99
5. Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $30

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. War, Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, $32
2. The Message, Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, $30
3. Patriot, Alexei Navalny, Knopf, $35
4. Be Ready When the Luck Happens, Ina Garten, Crown, $34
5. Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, $32

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. The Vegetarian, Han Kang and Deborah Smith (translator), Hogarth, $17
2. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
3. North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18. Read the Alta review.
4. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19
5. Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $20.99

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
2. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
3. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
4. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Metropolitan Books, $19.99
5. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Intermezzo, Sally Rooney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29
2. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
3. The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $30. Read Alta’s coverage of Connelly’s work here.
4. Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $30
5. Playground, Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Company, $29.99

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Message, Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, $30
2. War, Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, $32
3. Patriot, Alexei Navalny, Knopf, $35
4. Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, $32
5. Be Ready When the Luck Happens, Ina Garten, Crown, $34

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18. Read the Alta review.
2. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
3. The Vegetarian, Han Kang and Deborah Smith (translator), Hogarth, $17
4. The Best American Short Stories 2024, Lauren Groff (editor) and Heidi Pitlor (editor), Mariner Books, $19.99
5. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
2. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
3. Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, Heather Cox Richardson, Penguin Books, $18
4. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
5. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Metropolitan Books, $19.99

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Elizabeth Casillas

Elizabeth Casillas is an assistant editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.